College Football Preview Series

Yep, Its that time of year people where I hate my life. No real sports on except for the useless mid season baseball game or ESPN classic. My summers pretty much consist of reading hundreds of random college football previews and listening to random podcasts just drooling for any college football info.

So, I figured there has to be more idiots out there like me just waiting to read yet another preview so why not give you all what you want, a piece of drunken college football literature from a crazed fan who really hates all the other preview shows or write ups.

So the way that I figure it the next few weeks I will break down each conference and tell you what the hell is what and hopefully piss you off as you read this.

ACC Coastal Preview

Well lets start off from the top. The ACC might have played for 2 of the past 3 national championships but don’t get ahead of yourself, they’re still a lackluster power conference that didn’t have a winning record against any of the Power 5 schools last year (and a 4-6 record against the American Conference).

However, if you are strictly an ACC fan I guess theres room to be optimistic about potentially playing for another national championship. Might I also add that the conference really upgraded coaching wise adding Mark Richt (Miami), Bronco Mendenhall (UVA), Justin Fuente (VA Tech) & Dino Babers (Syracuse).

UNC

Everyone’s Coastal Division favorite. QB Marquise Williams is gone but Mitch Trubisky is now the man to keep the ball rolling for Tarheel offense. Gene Chizik is in year two with the Tarheel Defense which should drastically improve (hey their student athletes don’t even go to class).

On a side note can someone tell me what the hell UNC is doing scheduling two 1AA opponents again this year? They should be penalized for that if they even start to sniff the playoff talk. Several experts are picking them to win the Coastal this year and I don’t see that happening again.

Pittsburgh

Narduzzi enters year 3 at Pitt and might this be the year that the Panthers win the Coastal? I think theres a great chance for that but first things first. Pitt actually plays Penn State this year. Holy shit this is a game we should see every year but for some reason I can’t understand this is the first time they are playing in quite some time.

Pitt star running back James Connor missed last year with Hodgkins Lymphoma and they still had a decent year, this year Connor is back and hopefully it’s in Terminator 2 form and not Terminator Salvation. I like the Panthers chances to potentially win the coastal.

Duke

David Cutcliffe really has done incredible things at Duke. For most all my life Duke has been nothing more than a doormat of a college football team (with exception to the 1994 season where coach Fred Goldsmith led by QB Spence Fisher led the Blue Devils to a 8-4 season). Sorry, I just like to take pride in the fact that I didn’t need to wikipedia that.

Seriously though, Cutcliffe is in the midst of one of the best coaching jobs ever and while the Blue Devils aren’t serious playoff contenders they have been consistently getting to bowl games under him. Offensive Coordinator Scottie Montgumery is now the head coach at East Carolina but they’ll still be running a very similar offense so things shouldn’t change much with exception to the ACC getting a lot better coaching wise. I expect the Blue Devils to take a step back this year.

Miami (FLA)

This is another team that a lot of writers are very high on. Yes they did upgrade with getting Mark Richt as their coach but at the same time Richt was known for never winning the big games when he was at Georgia. Yes he does inherit a ton of talent with the Hurricanes current roster although any of them could be suspended at any given moment (hey it’s Miami and they’ve never been a clean program).

The out of conference schedule is quite favorable. Watch out for the game @Applachian State that has trap game written all over it. I don’t think Miami wins the Coastal the divisional schedule is just too tough but I do think they are headed in the right direction.

Georgia Tech

Wow last season was a disaster for head coach Paul Johnson but this year could be better, Johnson is too good of a coach to post back to back losing seasons but the rambling wreck need to learn how to pass the football. The ACC featured two teams last year that were just terrible on offense, specifically when it came to throwing the football those teams were Georgia Tech and Boston College who just happen to face each other week 1 in Dublin Ireland of all places.

Hey let’s show the Irish how shitty we do things here in America when it comes to offense in College Football. Thankfully the game will be on at 4am here in California so I won’t even tune in. The Yellow Jackets will be better this year though mark my words. I think they could be a sleeper in the division.

Virginia

Everyone in America loved Virginia Tech’s hire of Justin Fuente and rightfully so but quietly under the radar was the hiring of Bronco Mendenhall. This was a great hire for Virginia, I mean the guy can win with a team full of mormons imagine what he can do on the fertile recruiting lands of Virginia.

Matt Johns is back at QB so they’re experienced however they play a couple of tough road games @ Oregon & @ UConn. It might be rough early but I expect the Cavaliers to drastically improve each week. I think Mendenhall takes them bowling in year one.

Virginia Tech

Gone is legendary coach Frank Beamer and while I’ll miss the old ass neck head coach Beamer but they landed the hottest coach in the ranks in Justin Fuente (formally of Memphis). Fuente worked magic in Memphis taking over a terrible football team and making something out of them.

I expect him to do the same in Blacksburg. This is a sleeper team to win the division for me. Beamer’s offense was the Hokies big weakness and now they have new life in Fuente, plus they managed to retain defensive coordinator Bud Foster who is as good as they come. Don’t sleep on them.